Tubara-ma, Ishigaki Island

The competition held on 13th of Aug (Chinese calendar) is how emotionally sing "Tubara-ma" which is representative lyrics in Yaeyama area, and has history since Showa 22nd.



On Tubara-ma, you can chose any words or even you can make, but only one melody. It's about love stories, feeling of how you think of your home town and lives, and so on. It used to be sung when going home after work for relieving fatigue. The campion of the competition will be sought after for other events, but sometimes, no champion is selected. Tubara-ma competition was held on Sep 25th(2015). Only qualifiers can appear on stage. People from Ishigaki, islands of Yaeyama, main island of Okinawa and Japan, overseas, total 23 people sing with their own feelings under the gibbous moon.

Singer with sanshin, sanshin player, Japanese flute player on the stage.



Many people come to the competition and enjoy their songs. Applause showed from audiences. Singers age of 27 to 85 on the stage this year. After the performance, it will be juried by emotion, breathing, and pronunciation of Yaeyama dialect. Not only songs, but also lyrics category is held. Champion of lyrics category is Mr. Nakamoto Masao from Uruma-ciry, 74 years old. During jurying time, champion of last year sings with Mr. Nakamoto's lyric which is about his mother.

And the champion of song category this year is Maetsu Shinya, 35 years old who has tried 3 times(4 times including this year). Congratulations! Tubara-ma will be held Sep 13th, 2016 next year. Enjoy a after-dark Tubara-ma competition.



Okinawa CLIP Photographer/Writer Masumi Sasamoto